Russian Region Elects Leader

Published 8:00 pm, Saturday, April 6, 2002

A southern Russian region that has absorbed the bulk of the refugees from the war in neighboring Chechnya held early elections for provincial president Sunday after a tense campaign.

Security was tight in Ingushetia for the voting, with increased police and troops at checkpoints around the republic, especially those close to the border with breakaway Chechnya.

Eight candidates ran in the elections, which were prompted by former President Ruslan Aushev's abrupt resignation on New Year's Eve.

Aushev was a Soviet war hero in Afghanistan and has been one of southern Russia's most influential leaders during the 2-year-old Chechnya war. He quit in protest over a court decision to cancel regional presidential elections scheduled for this year and force him to stay in office until 2003.

He also complained of interference by President Vladimir Putin's envoy to the southern Russian region, a former commander of Russian troops in Chechnya, Gen. Viktor Kazantsev. Putin gave Kazantsev and other regional envoys broad powers in what many saw as a Kremlin attempt to reduce the authority of Russia's popularly elected regional leaders.

One of the top candidates for Ingushetia's presidency, Murat Zyazikov, is backed by Putin's envoy. Zyazikov is a general in the Federal Security Service, the main successor agency of the KGB.

Aushev's favorite, meanwhile, was ousted from the running at the last minute as the bitter race reached the Russian Supreme Court.

The court ruled Friday that Ingush Interior Minister Khamzad Gutseriyev should have taken a leave of absence from his job as the region's top policeman during the campaign, according to election laws.

Violence from Chechnya frequently spills over into Ingushetia, and it is a main gateway to Chechnya for Russian troops.

Tens of thousands of Chechen refugees have been living in Ingushetia there since the outbreak of the most recent war in Chechnya in 1999. About 12,000 refugees who have formally registered with the Ingush authorities were eligible to vote, the Interfax news agency reported.

At least 50 percent of registered voters must cast ballots to make the election valid. If no candidate receive a majority of the votes cast, the two top vote-getters will face each other in a run-off later this month.